doc241 - Schoenherr Home Page in Sunny Chula Vista

At sunset the angelus summoned the Indians, the workmen, and the priests to
the chapel, where the litany was sung and the evening blessing pronounced. This
marked the ending of the long day of devotion to religion and labor. Each night found
the mission a little richer and the Indian no poorer.
The life of the Indian girls and unmarried women was somewhat different and the
echo of cheerful laughter comes down to us through the years. There was a low building
built around an open court which served as a sort of nunnery under the supervision of a
trusted old Indian woman. Here the girls and young women lived, weaving and spinning,
and making all the cloth which was used at the mission. They seem to have been happy
in this association and to have had many love affairs which ripened into lawful marriage
with the approval of the priests.
The Fathers ruled their little kingdom with a strong hand, which was doubtless
necessary. It is easy to understand that discipline was indispensable and that the failure
to maintain it must have resulted in speedy demoralization. Imprisonment was a common
punishment, but the priests did not hesitate to use the rod for minor offenses. The
most serious cases were turned over to the military authorities at the Presidio and
sometimes resulted in the execution of the culprits by shooting.
Alfred Robinson visited the mission at the time of its greatest prosperity and left
the following account of the hospitality he enjoyed:
"Riding along, following the course of the river up the valley, passing on their way
two or three small huts, without anything particular to note, they reached the Mission,
where they met the two Father Missionaries at the door, they having just returned from a
walk around the premises. The visitors were welcomed, and alighted to have half an
hour's chat before dinner--that is, before twelve o'clock, their usual hour for that meal;
and accordingly sat down on one of the rude benches so generally found at all these
establishments. The author's
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[Old Mission of San Diego de Alcala]
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friend, being an old acquaintance of the Fathers, had considerable to say to them in relation
to their travels, which was of great interest to them. At length the church bells announced
the hour of noon, when both the holy friars turned around and knelt upon the
bench upon which they had been sitting with faces turned to the building, while three or
four young pages knelt by their side, on the pavement, when the elder of the two friars
commenced the Angelus Domini, in a very devout manner, and led the prayer, which
was responded to by the brother friar and the pages, the bells of the church chiming an
accompaniment.
"During the prayer a large fly alighted on the wall just in front of the Father, who,
apparently without any attention to the prayer, was watching the course of the fly and
following it with the large round head of his cane, as it moved about, sometimes up,
sometimes down, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, and ready to annihilate
it, when, at the closing of the prayer, and pronouncing the word Amen! Jesus! he
brought his cane down on the poor fly and crushed it and then turned around to renew
the conversation, as though nothing had transpired. This incident was amusing to the